Final Nintendo Power cover brings the magazine full circle

A fitting sendoff for a vital, pre-Internet source of gaming info and community.

Back in August, when I was the first to report that Nintendo Power would be ceasing publication at the end of the year, I was largely able to compartmentalize my personal feelings about the move in favor of reporting on the facts. But today, when I saw the above image of the magazine's final cover (left)—one that pays loving homage to that iconic Issue 1 cover from 1988 (right)—it really hit me how much the death of Nintendo Power represents the end of an era.

I didn't subscribe to Nintendo Power until its second year in print, after I finally convinced my parents to get me an NES. I haven't actually read an entire issue cover-to-cover for about 15 years now (timing that roughly corresponds to when I got unlimited Internet access in my home). But for a period of about ten years in my youth, Nintendo Power (along with GamePro and Electronic Gaming Monthly) served as my main introduction to the larger world of video games.

At the time, the large screenshots and previews of titles that I would probably never own were the main draw. But looking back, I feel like the most important thing I found in those glossy pages was a feeling of connection to the larger world surrounding the games themselves.

It's difficult to remember now just how hard it was to feel like a part of a wider community of gamers before the advent of the Internet. Sure, all my friends were Nintendo-mad as well, and we'd go so far as hosting local Nintendo-themed parties and tournaments. But that's nothing like today—I can play a game of Super Smash Bros. Brawl with a stranger thousands of miles away, or argue about the relative merits of the Wii U with someone in Istanbul. If our little cul-de-sac was one of thousands of islands of disconnected Nintendo fans, Nintendo Power was the vital, monthly cargo drop of supplies that allowed us to survive and thrive as up-and-coming gamers.

The things I remember most about those golden days of Nintendo Power aren't the individual reviews or previews (though I wore out the issue with the multi-page Battletoads feature). They're the letters section, which shared the opinions of other, regular gamers, and the occasional reports on events like the Nintendo World Championships. The high scores lists that made me realize my skills needed work and the "Classified Information" section opened up a world of hidden Easter eggs. The monthly "Top 20" was my first exposure to the business side of video games, while the annual awards first made me care about game criticism (don't laugh, I was eight years old). Even the comics helped, as they thickened the light-as-air stories behind some of these games into something more engaging and real.

Perhaps most of all, I recall those larger-than-life covers that were the first thing I saw when I opened the mailbox, covers that really captured the essence of a game without reducing it to a screenshot. This was especially true in those early years of the magazine, when the design team was allowed to get really creative with the imagery (anyone else remember the disturbing Castlevania II cover?)

Sure, most of the actual writing in those early days of Nintendo Power was thinly veiled marketing copy that I was too young and naïve to pick up on; the current, Future-published incarnation of the magazine resembles those early issues in name only. And I realize that the game industry and the publishing industry have largely grown past the point where a dead-tree magazine focused on a single console maker can succeed (while we're at it, R.I.P. PlayStation: The Official Magazine).

Still, the way this final cover brings the entire Nintendo Power run full circle can't help but bring back bittersweet memories of a time that feels much closer than 25 years past. So here's a final, nostalgia-tinged sendoff to a magazine that served not just as a monthly delivery of gaming information, but as a vital, pre-Internet connection to a burgeoning community that would grow up to be lifelong gamers.

Why did you wear out that Battletoads badly enough that you had to put it in italics? It was because you couldn't stop starting at the Dark Queen, could you? It's OK. You can say it. It's a safe place here.

I'm really sad to see it go. I grew up with Nintendo power (and still have many of my back issues). Is there anywhere I can go to pick up one of the final issues? I think I'm gonna frame it and hang it up (along with some of my old issues I think).

I'm really sad to see it go. I grew up with Nintendo power (and still have many of my back issues). Is there anywhere I can go to pick up one of the final issues? I think I'm gonna frame it and hang it up (along with some of my old issues I think).

I'm guessing local bookstores, or even supermarkets/big box stores with a magazine rack will have a good chance of carrying it. Call around.

This was the most appropriate cover they could have ever considered using for the last issue. I'm going to miss the magazine, even if I'd stopped reading it when the SNES coverage disappeared and I'd moved on to a PSX instead of a N64.

I remember getting that first issue and reading it cover-to-cover over and over again. I remember the bundled copy of Dragon Warrior that just showed up one day and opened my eyes to the world of RPGs. I remember the invaluable Metroid maps, the moves for Street Fighter II, and hundreds of other tidbits of information that I soaked up as a young gamer.

Heh...I remember subscribing to Nintendo Power as a kid. In fact, I don't think I would have been able to beat the original Zelda without help from the magazine. I never owned a Super Nintendo, so as the coverage of NES games went away, I stopped my subscription.

I ended up re-subscribing several years later. I owned a N64, and was really looking forward to purchasing the new Zelda Game (Ocarina of time?). The original run of that game included "Gold" cartridges (much like the original NES version). However, the stores around me had run out of pre-orders for the gold cartridge version, and I happened across a Nintendo Power special where if you bought the game & subscribed to NP for a year, you'd get the gold cartridge version.

I enjoyed my subscription for that year, however, at that time I tended to get most of my news from the internet, so everything in NP was quite old by comparison. (Plus, the content seemed to be aimed for younger kids). That being said, I read every issue...

I was geting the occasional issues of the Nintendo Fun Club and then one day Nintendo Power showed up instead. I still have my old Final Fantasy and SMB 3 strategy guides. I have to track this issue down. Love the homage.

Maybe I was too old when it started (I was about 14), but "Nintendo Power" always seemed unbelievably cheesy. I don't get the love for it.

I was born in 1981 and even I recognized that it was cheesy back in the early days. My friends and I recognized GamePro as the "serious" gaming magazine, but that didn't stop us from devouring every issue of Nintendo Power.

Wait wait wait. With NP gone, wouldn't that kind of be a blow to Nintendo's marketing? Despite its bias, I would still often pick it up as a reliable source for getting caught up on what the latest excitements are on Nintendo's side of things.

Truly sad. I also remember the NES glory days and I had a Nintendo Power subscription for a time. I remember owning the original issue at one point as well.

I wonder if somebody would consider starting a Nintendo Power website to carry the torch. Print itself seems to be dying overall but it's possible Nintendo Power could still manage to survive in some sort of online subscription-based website.

The best Christmas my young life ever had was a Nintendo and a year long subscription to Nintendo Power. It was so awesome. This is a very sad day, but what a way to go out classy.

That reminds me of the Christmas me and my older sister got our NES 'from Santa'. I got up early in the morning and my parents had placed it dead center between each of our own piles of gift (thus denoting 'this gift is for both of you') and I - think this gift from Santa and not my parents - slide it over to my pile. VERY CLEVER, INDEED.

What I remember most poignantly was a four issue special on Secret of Mana with huge amounts of information and beautiful art. It had a before and since unmatched quality compared to all of the other gaming mags. I remember silly things like the Donkey Kong Country VHS I got gratis in the mail, where they were so excited about it and spent half an hour looking like absolute dweebs talking about it. And then they threw in a spot at the end with some guys in a dark room playing on a Nintendo Ultra 64 and then quickly shutting off the camera. gg NP

My parents ordered the first issue of Nintendo Power for me in 1990 as a back issue so I could utilize the guide for the 2nd Quest in The Legend of Zelda. I couldn't finish it back then because it was too difficult for me. I finished the first quest and, for the first time, the 2nd quest this year. I remember still looking through the pages of the first issue for advice, notably the description of the red and blue bubbles.

And now we come full circle. We bagan with Mario 2 and end with New Super Mario 2. It is a sad thing to see Nintendo power go away. Will miss all the good things about it (Howard and Nester! The Zelda and Mario comics! Free copy of Dragon Warrior!).

OPM going bye bye is not going to hit me as hard. It was not as good as Future's OXM and PC Gamer or the later years of NP.

Ahh... brings back memories. Back in the 90s, the one and only video game shop in our little town carried a few English-language gaming magazines, imported straight from the US. Nintendo Power was one of them. I can still remember "reading" some, even though I could barely understand English back then.

It's sad to see all these gaming publications close. I used to have a backpack full of Nintendo Powers back in the day that would go with me on every trip. I would enter all the contests in each issue, plastering the free posters all over the wall, and even once or twice writing in to the mag and drawing on the envelope like they always encouraged the readers to do.

Somewhere at my parents the original FF1 strategy guide, the mega man X issue and one other still live in a filing cabinet. Might have to go find them.

I remember subscribing to Nintendo Power because of the offer of a free copy of Dragon Warrior (DQ1). Wow, such a long time ago, sad to see it go.

Oh man totally forgot about that! I remember getting that in the mail unexpectedly on the day before a vacation and marveling at the packaging and instruction manual that entire week and then being so excited to finally get home to play it

Kyle Orland / Kyle is the Senior Gaming Editor at Ars Technica, specializing in video game hardware and software. He has journalism and computer science degrees from University of Maryland. He is based in Pittsburgh, PA.